Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Dollhouse

This year, there was one Christmas gift that I just couldn't wait for the girls to see...

...the dollhouse!

This is the Vermont Farmhouse Jr. kit by Real Good Toys. I wish I could take some credit for this one, but my husband did all the hard work--painting, assembling, and (my favorite part!) wiring it for lights.

I love the lights--they makes it all seem so real and the whole house glows so beautifully at night!

The girls love it and are constantly playing with it--rearranging the furniture and creating new little scenes. We talk about what things need to be added (curtains and some kitchen shelving being tops on the list) and what things we could possibly make for it (some towels for the bathroom and quilts for the bed will be made shortly.)

I'm looking forward to seeing how this little home changes as the girls age. I remember, as a girl, attempting to create all kinds of miniature items for my dollhouse. I can't wait to see what my girls come up with!

7 comments:

hi i myself am building this house also. We just finished touch ups and now i have 2 days to figure out if i want the addition or just go straight into the lighting.I am new to making dollhouses and was wondering how u wired the house with lights. I have heard conflicting stories. Did u buy a kit or separates. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Also im really having a hard time figuring out if there will be enough room without the addition. Your house is beautiful. I love the purple! We went with a light pink and white and brown roof:)

We used the tape wire kit for the dollhouse. We really liked how invisible the tape wire was (it allowed us to have ceiling lamps with no visible wires.) We ran the tape along the ceilings and along the bottom of the wall. Along the walls we installed outlets for floor and table lamps. I would recommend wallpapering if you use the tape wire though--although you can paint over the tape wire, we found the paint sometimes chipped off of it.I kind of wish we had more space in our dollhouse. Initially it seemed huge, but once we started putting the furniture in, it suddenly seemed to get smaller and smaller. We decided not to install the stairs and one of the third floor walls, just so we would have a bit more room for furniture. An addition wouldn't be a bad idea.You're dollhouse sounds lovely! Good luck with it!

thank u so much for gwetting back to me so soon! Did u buy the cir kit wire kit and if so was it the one that says large with the blue wrapping. Also if u did by that was anything else needed besides the lights? Do i need that white plug socket strip. well i have decided no addition for now. for the same price i could buy another doll house from hobby lobby using the 40 percent off coupon they have. This house was a great buy!oh and i love how you used a rabbit family instead of dolls:)oh and one lat thing what did u use on the floors?Dont know really what is safe for the wood and what might mess them up. Wish me luck im starting shingles tonight:) We died them and now they are ready to be glued. We went with the octogon style!

ok here goes nothing we are installing the lights. We bought the cir kit starter kit and are only doing the first floor for tonight. We bought outlets to put on the walls for lamps also. My only question is the middle of the gable on the 3rd floor what kind of light did u use? Was it the same as the kitchen? Also we decided the same floor plan as yours but the 3rd floor we put one of the spacers dead in the middle of the gable. I will have to post a pic for you when all finished. Thanks for the advice:)

I believe it was the cir kit starter kit that we used (we got all our supplies at Hobby Lobby too--gotta love that 40% off coupon!) We didn't buy a socket strip--just the individual wall outlets. The light in the 3rd floor gable just looks like a small light bulb. We have the bulb tucked up rather high, so it's not visible--it just provides a nice glow in that window.I'll have to ask my husband what we used on the floors--I don't remember. I do remember that installing the floors was not nearly as stressful as installing the wallpaper! :)Good luck with yours. I would love to see some pics when it's finished!

thanks we started with the lights last night and had to stop. My husband found it very hard to grip the brads so i ordered a brad insertion tool. Should arrive in a cople of days. Its funny my husband is a very quick learner and can pretty much figure things out very quickly but for some reason i really think this lighting thing is has puzzled him..lol We did get some connectivity last night we did have 2 lights turn on then lost it when we tried running more tape so somewhere something went wrong. He was getting frustrated and that only makes things worse so we stopped. I really appreciate all the help. I kinda figured that the wall paper would be a nightmare but i think i will take one room at a time. My daughter is only 9 months so im not in that much of a hurry:) i just really wanted a hobby to work on but just like you I think my husband will be taking the credit for this to. I really thought that i could do this all on my own! Boy was i so wrong!!!